Single bird vs pair — the eternal debate

I work from home so my Quaker parrot gets tons of attention, but I still feel guilty during meetings. Would getting a second bird be good for Charlie or would it backfire? I've heard horror stories AND success stories. What's YOUR experience?

Birds are basically tiny dinosaurs with attitude. My Poppy has me completely trained at this point.

Great question! So in my experience with umbrella cockatoo, this usually comes down to a few things. First, adding a full-spectrum Arcadia UV light near the cage. Second, make sure they're getting enough sleep — 12 hours of uninterrupted dark sleep is crucial. And third, pay attention to stress from loud noises like construction because that was a huge factor for my Charlie. Hope that helps!

Dealt with this for months. What finally worked was changing the lighting schedule and just being really patient. They come around eventually.

If you're near Burlington, PetSmart on Hurontario St actually has a decent bird section. Better than most locations.

When I had to travel, I used Bird Sitting Toronto and they were incredible with my zebra finch. Daily updates with photos and everything.

Hmm, I'm on the fence about this one. Part of me agrees but then I think about my experience with Poppy and it doesn't quite line up.